Noisy karaoke nights at a neighbourhood pub have landed it almost £3,000 in court fines and costs.
People living near The Montreal Arms were subjected to a barrage of customers singing songs, including Stevie Wonder’s I just called to say I love you, Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire, Abba’s Dancing Queen and Bonnie Tyler’s Total eclipse of the Heart.
They also had to put up with live and recorded music, people speaking loudly into a microphone, shouting from inside the pub and the slamming of doors.
As a result of complaints being made to the council, the problems subsided in February 2009, but the live music problems started again in January this year. There were regular live music nights on Friday that started at around 8pm and continued until midnight and beyond.
Despite warnings the problems persisted and in March the council issued a noise abatement notice. However, just four days later the council’s noise patrol was called out and after the pub’s owner and manager failed to reduce the noise to an acceptable level, the council started legal proceedings.
On Tuesday, Pendry’s Pubs Limited, which owns The Montreal Arms in Albion Hill, Brighton was fined £2,000 with £475 costs, and manager Richard Baker given a conditional discharge with £475 costs by Brighton Magistrates’ Court.
Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, cabinet member for environment, said: “It really is intolerable that the neighbours were subjected to this level of noise nuisance. The pub was given every chance to put the matter right and the council had no alternative but to prosecute to protect residents.”
